Environment & Energy

For obvious reasons, Roser’s cheerful view of capitalist business-as-usual – and the data that would seem to support it – has made him a darling of libertarian market fundamentalists, who have lavished praise on his work. His admirers include some of the most extreme right wing think tanks in the U.S. and U.K. Among these are the Cato Institute, spawn of the noxious fossil fuel magnates Charles and David Koch; the American Enterprise Institute, best known for its spreading of lies to foment the US-Iraq War in 2003; the Foundation for Economic Education, the oldest libertarian think tank in the U.S., founded by business interests to peddle pro-market, antigovernment ideology; and the Institute of Economic Affairs, a U.K.-based organization that has promoted climate-change denial.

Roser’s most important supporter, providing hundreds of thousands of dollars in funding, is the world’s fifth richest man, Bill Gates. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has been the single largest donor in recent years, funding “general operations and data infrastructure development” along with “core project activities.” Gates and Roser know each other personally. Gates has referred to OWID as his “favorite website.”

Other notable allies are the philosophers and social theorists who make up what’s called “effective altruism.” EA is a boutique ideology of wealthy elites who wish to do the “most good” in the world through charitable giving. Silicon Valley tech bros have been prominent devotees, including Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz and Estonian billionaire Jaan Taallin, developer of Skype.
According to the EA platform, pursuit of lucrative jobs within the profiteering framework is the ideal, as this provides more disposable income for donations to EA-approved charities. EA philosopher William MacAskill, who teaches at Oxford University, has advocated hiring on with “immoral organizations” if it increases income for ethical giving. Put another way: If maintaining an exploitative, unjust system means more profits for elites, then utility can be maximized, so long as elites practice some manner of “effective” and “altruistic” philanthropy. Philosopher Emile Torres, a one-time EA enthusiast and now postdoctoral researcher at Case Western Reserve University, says that the movement “ultimately reinforces the neoliberalism that is, in fact, a root cause of so many of our global problems.”

Donations to reform and replace factory farming now total around roughly $260 million a year, which represents just 0.04 percent of global philanthropy and over 100 times less than causes like global development (around $70 billion) or climate change (around $60 billion). It’s remarkable what committed activists, campaigners, and organizers have accomplished for animals with such limited resources, but they need more to stand up against entrenched interests, especially (unfortunately) in politics.